Assessing the mental health condition of home-confined university level students of Bangladesh due to the COVID-19 pandemic

AIM: The COVID-19 pandemic drove the Government of Bangladesh to shut down educational institutions, which had an enormous effect on the psychological health of students. This study aimed to assess the mental health status of Bangladeshi university students during the lockdown period. SUBJECT AND METHODS: Through an online-based questionnaire, information was collected from 509 university students of Bangladesh from June 19, 2020, to June 28, 2020, using convenient sampling. K-means clustering was applied to organize students according to their psychological health score, and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was also conducted to determine the association among the student’s activities and their mental health during the pandemic. In addition, these associations were examined through chi-square test and ordinal logistic regression. RESULTS: Students were categorized into four categories where 4.32% had mild, 72.7% had moderate, 12.57% had moderately severe, and 10.41% suffered from severe mental health imbalance. The results showed that having family members affected by the coronavirus, facing insecurity, using social media, and smoking habits increased the mental health imbalances of students; in contrast, being worried about studying, future career, spending more time with family members, and participation in household chores reduced the mental health disturbances of students. On the other hand, the results of the ordinal logistic regression indicated that sleeping time and participation in household chores were preventive factors for students. CONCLUSION: This study reveals that a large proportion of University students of Bangladesh suffered from mental health disturbances during the lockdown period. Implementing mental health plans and providing job security, improved communication approaches toward family members, not flattening illusive news, and preoccupation in household activities may assist to enhance the mental health status of the university students. The authors believe that this study’s findings will be helpful to expedite the rate of attaining the sustainable development goal associated with health status in Bangladesh.